Heartless

❆ Twenty One ❆

Twenty One

Beast sped up the rest of the mountainside, throwing himself down into the snow before the carriage could come to a stop and charging toward the blaze. I clamored out of the car after him, tripping over my dress and stumbling into the white cushions of ice. Smoke curdled among the trees in heavy masses of shadow. Black tendrils twisted through the air and weaved around the pines, reaching out to me with hungry fingers and tearing the air from my lungs. I lifted my arm to shield my face and plunged into the thick clouds after him.

    He stood near the smoking greenhouse, his movements frantic as he shoveled buckets of snow and dumped it onto the blaze. The large glass dome lay in jagged shards all around; roses that had once stood tall and proud now smoldered in the ashes, charred and fragile enough to blow away in the wind. I scooped handfuls of snow onto the fire, but it had already spread and was devouring several other trees. My eyes burned the closer I got.

    "No!" Beast yelled. His arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me away from the flames.

    "I can help!" I fought to get out of his grip.

    He turned us away, blocking my sight of all the destruction. "Those are roses, Adaira. If you inhale the fumes, you're going to get sick." He set me on my feet and nudged me toward the palace, which had yet to be touched by flames. You can't burn stone, I thought. "Go inside."

    "But—"

    "Go!"

    I jerked back, my mouth snapping shut. He spun and ran back to the fire. I stood there for a moment longer in shock, finally commanding my feet to move when my lungs began to burn. I shuffled through the ice and cold toward the daunting double doors, my legs frozen stiff from falling and my feet completely numb.

    The palace doors were sealed shut against the fire, but they hadn't escaped the devastation unscathed. Deep slash marks and dents covered the crack as if they'd been hammered on with a battering ram. I pushed on the door knocker. It opened with surprising ease, the thick metal eliciting a loud groan. Why would someone beat down on an unlocked door? I heaved the door open wide enough to allow myself in, dragging my feet until I was safe over the threshold. A small piece of shiny metal skidded along the floor of the foyer. Hearing the doors slam shut, I lowered myself to the ground to pick it up. My heart thudded in my chest. A ring.

    A silver ring with a jasper stone.

    Gabriel.

    I carefully laid the smooth piece of silver in the center of my palm, running a trembling finger over the surface. My head pounded. Oh Gabriel, what have you done?

    I ran to my room and locked the door behind me. My mind spun with the events of today— the panic of not finding Hendric alive, the excitement of the city; my anxiety over the party, the thrill of his hands and lips touching me, the fear that what I'd seen in those pictures was real. And now there was this. Gabriel. It was all too much. I collapsed on the bed with a shaky whimper. I didn't know what was real anymore.

    I stared down at the ring. Hundreds of mysteries were laid into such a simple thing. If I had stopped that morning on the hill and given him a chance, what would have happened? If I hadn't been so worried about everyone else and took one single moment to be selfish, would I have said yes?

    Sliding the ring onto my finger, I turned it over with a frown. I wondered what life would look like if I'd put it on before this moment.

    I imagined myself surrounded by our children, young sons grappling for Gabriel's attention as soon as he walked in the door, trying to be just like him. We would live in the city, far away from Kinnot and its terror-stricken people. I would be the dutiful, doting housewife who cooked and cleaned and watched the children while my husband worked. When he came home, we would sit at the table and wait for him to eat before digging in. I would rub his shoulders and comfort him after the long day, listening to him as he spoke of the stress of work. We would be safe.